Ex-IAS Officer AK Sharma Named BJP’s Candidate for UP MLC Polls

Sharma is known to be among PM Modi’s most trusted aides and had worked with him before 2014.

Arvind Kumar Sharma, a former IAS officer who had spent years in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s team and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday, 14 January, has been named one of the party's candidates for the upcoming legislative council polls in Uttar Pradesh.

The polls for the 12 seats of UP’s legislative council are scheduled for 28 January, and the last date for filing of nominations is 18 January.

Sharma is known to be amongst PM Modi’s most trusted aides. He had worked with Modi when he was the chief minister of Gujarat, before 2014. He had joined the then CM as secretary in 2001. Later, he was part of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) as well.

BJP leaders say that for over two decades, Sharma has earned the trust of PM Modi with a results-driven approach, NDTV reported.

Who Is Arvind Kumar Sharma?

Sharma was secretary in the government’s Ministry for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. He is from the 1988 batch of IAS officers from the Gujarat cadre. A postgraduate in political science from Allahabad University, he hails from Kajha Khurd village in Muhammadabad Gohna tehsil of UP’s Mau district.

"I come from a backward village of Mau district in Uttar Pradesh. I was working on the post of a secretary and don't have any political background. To bring a person like me into the party, only PM Narendra Modi and BJP can do it[sic.]," Sharma later told reporters, Hindustan Times reported.

He opted for voluntary retirement from service on 11 January, about one-and-a-half-years ahead of his scheduled superannuation in July 2022. The central government accepted his retirement plea on 11 January.